A Fine Line
by ShangWildcat
Summary: Taelyn, alone in Sydney with no one bar her cat to keep her company, dreams of many things though most are not possible. Until one unexpected fall throws her right into her best dream, and worst nightmare.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** **Taelyn, alone in Sydney with no-one bar her cat to keep her company, dreams of many things though most are not possible. Until one unexpected fall throws her right into her best dream, and worst nightmare.  
**  
**Disclaimer:** **I own Taelyn and Leilani and nothing else. Im not going to put a disclaimer in all chapters because it's a waste of time when I'll just say the same thing I just said**.  
  
**Pronunciation:** **Taelyn- Tea Lyn (main character)  
Leilani- Lee larn ee (her female cat)  
  
Authors Note:** **if anyone finds anything wrong with my fanfic, could you please R&R and explain what it is. If you don't like it, don't read it. Flames are acceptable, but could you please specify what makes my story so horrible instead of just throwing out complaints with no justification.  
**  
**Vordaewen   
  
Chapter One  
**  
Head downcast, Taelyn stumbled through the doorway into her second storey apartment, only to collapse onto the closest chair. After laying there for what seemed like eternity, she managed to lift herself up to walk to the more comfortable bed in the adjoining room. Leilani pounced on her the moment her head hit the pillow, mewing loudly, demanding to be fed.  
  
"Yeah, Yeah", She said to the cat before falling into a light doze for the rest of the afternoon despite the starving feline using her for a pincushion.

* * *

Hours later, Taelyn awoke and glanced at her bedside clock. 7:30 PM  
  
"Oh, Shit!"  
  
Jumping up, she threw her Pizza Hut work clothes on and raced into the kitchen followed by Leilani who hadn't left her for most of the afternoon. Ten minutes later, with her bag containing a hairbrush, keys, mobile and a wallet, she ran out the room, only stopping to lock the door behind her.  
  
Her boss greeted her none too kindly when she entered the back door to the restaurant.  
  
"You're late"  
  
"Yeah, I know, Sorry."  
  
"Don't be sorry, just be here on time"  
  
Taelyn turned around while rolling her eyes to get an apron from the rack.  
  
"Up front serving" ordered her boss.  
  
She quickly tied up her loose shoulder length fair hair into a plait before walking to the counter.  
  
The night passed in a flurry of cleaning, cooking and serving. Taelyn and one of her work associates, Ben closed up the restaurant before he headed for his car and she headed to the path beside the road to start the fifteen- minute walk home. After walking for about two metres, Taelyn heard a car slow down and drive alongside her. Turning her head, she spotted Ben in the driver's seat, looking at her. He wound his window down and stuck his head out to talk to her.  
  
"Wanna lift?"  
  
"Nah, I'll be alright"  
  
"Sure? Lots of weirdoes around this neighborhood at" he glanced at his watch "11:30" Taelyn remained silent and kept walking.  
  
"Where are you heading?"  
  
"That way" she replied, pointing down a main road to the right.  
  
"I'm going that way too, come on."  
  
Figuring that she would get nowhere arguing and if she kept walking he would probably follow her all the way to her unit, she accepted and wandered around to the other side of the car where she opened the door and sat down before doing up her seatbelt. They drove in silence for a while until Ben asked her where her house was.  
  
"Apartment block actually, and it's a left here then a second right before going right to the end."  
  
Ben followed her directions and stopped outside her building. He turned the engine off and turned to look at her. Feeling awkward under his gaze, Taelyn moved to step out of the car but his hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned back to look at him and there was an uncomfortable silence before he spoke.  
  
"You have beautiful eyes, bright green"  
  
Taelyn once again tried to get out but his other hand grabbed her face, forcefully turning her head to look at him. She lowered her eyes to avoid the desire burning in his. Looking up once more, she saw him leaning towards her. With her heart drumming in her ears, she brought up her closed fist and with all the force she could muster, threw it in his face. His head snapped back and his hands released her. She scrambled out of the vehicle and walked backwards away from it, keeping her eyes on Ben with his bleeding nose. Unexpectedly, her feet met the gutter and she stumbled over backwards. For a split second he arms wheeled in the air as she tried to regain her balance, before falling back. Her head connected with the cement pavement and she knew no more.

* * *

Slowly, her eyes opened and started to focus. Once she could see properly, Taelyn blinked a few times before trying to sit up. A major throb overtook her head and she raised her hands to hold it. Once the pain receded, she removed her hands and brought them into her lap. Blood covered them. Looking away from her messy hands, Taelyn took notice of her surroundings for the first time. Around her were large open plains that she had never seen before. In the distance to the left stood a large hill with a tower upon it. Starting to feel a little scared, she moved towards the only cover she could see, a bush covered in red berries. Once there, she collapsed under the minimal shade it provided and closed her eyes for a moment.  
  
Her eyes snapped open as she heard footsteps coming towards her on the other side of the bush that she had cowered behind. Peeking through the leaves, she saw four children and one man walk past where she had previously been laying. Hoping that they would just pass by her, she remained quiet as they moved on. The four children where talking loudly about something when Taelyn heard the mans footsteps stop. Daring to look out through the bush, she saw him examining the dirt. That's when she noticed the line of blood, her blood, which led him straight to her. She cursed under her breath as she heard him come near her.  
  
Taelyn lay on her back, staring up at the sky until his head came into view. The man was rugged looking, as if he had been outside for too long. Accompanying his looks where also his smell of outdoors, mixed with sweat. His brown hair fell in front of his blue eyes as he looked at her. Taelyn realised she had been screwing up her nose and immediately stopped. As she continued to stare up at him, he looked her up and down trying to determine is she was dangerous or not. Guessing what he was thinking, Taelyn spoke.  
  
"It's alright, it's not like I'm going to kill you or anything."  
  
He still appeared unsure, but Taelyn awkwardly dragged herself to her feet and looked up to meet his gaze, which was still on her, defiantly, trying not to appear too scared. As it was obvious that he wasn't going to say anything, Taelyn tried to start up a conversation  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"On the East-West road, near Bree"  
  
Taelyn just sat there having no idea where that was.  
  
"Strider?" one of the children inquired, "Who's that?"  
  
Taelyn looked down to the kids and smiled. "I'm Taelyn. And you are?"  
  
"I'm Peregrin Took," said the one who asked "but my friends call me Pippin"  
  
Following their comrade's lead, they all introduced themselves one by one.  
  
"I'm Meriadoc Brandybuck, or just Merry"  
  
"I'm Frodo Baggins of the shire, and this is Samwise Gamgee"  
  
"But we call him Sam" said Pippin.  
  
Sam just stood there close to Frodo and glared at her.  
  
"I'm Aragorn, otherwise known at Strider" came a voice from behind.  
  
"What are you doing out here?" inquired Pippin, always the curious one. Taelyn just shrugged her shoulders and looked around at all of them, still confused herself.  
  
"What's wrong with your head" asked Sam, noticing the blood all over her head, getting slightly curious and worried for her.  
  
Everything after that happened a bit fast. Aragorn basically ordered her to show her and he cleaned it up using water from a bottle at his hip, before wrapping it up using a bandage he got from somewhere. The children were explained to be Hobbits, which silenced her for a while when she realised they were older than she was. Although she was still wary of them, Taelyn began to like them. The pain eased away with some sort of plant that Aragorn made her eat, although it made her rather sleepy. She fell asleep under the last bit of shade from the bush and the hobbits and Aragorn sat talking a little way away.  
  
They sat in a comfortable silence around a fire that Sam built, each lost to his own thoughts. Every ten minutes or so one of them went to check on the new addition to the group, who would stay with them, at least until they managed to find a town somewhere.  
  
A few hours after the sun left the world in darkness, Pippin raced back from checking on Taelyn, nearly crying.  
  
"What's wrong?" demanded Strider.  
  
"Taelyn.... She's gone." he whispered sitting down on the hard ground. Aragorn went to check and found that she had indeed disappeared.

* * *

Taelyn awoke seeing a blur of white. She screwed her face up in concentration, wondering where she was. A lady in white appeared in her vision, saying something she didn't quite catch. A nurse, she realised. She was in a hospital. Taelyn started to panic, wondering where her newfound friends were. A familiar face came into her vision and she started to scream when she saw him. Ben.  
  
"What's wrong?" questioned the nurse.  
  
"Get him away from me" she replied quietly and coldly. The nurse ushered Ben out of the room and Taelyn fell into a restless slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two  
**  
Two days after the 'Ben' incident, Taelyn awoke to the sound of rain pounding on the window. Images and memories flitted through her head, mainly of Aragorn and the Hobbits. Everything seemed hazy to her and she couldn't decipher what was real and what wasn't. Her next thought was of Leilani. How long had she been here anyway?  
  
Searching the room with her eyes, Taelyn saw a monitor beeping away on her left and a bathroom on her right. At the foot of her bed was a tray laden with untouched food. The entry to the room stood opposite the bed. It took her a moment to identify the small red button attached to the bed head and when she did, she reached up a hand to press it.  
  
Almost immediately, a nurse came charging into the room, a worried expression on her face. Seeing that everything was as it should be and that her patient wasn't dying, she came to the monitor to check Taelyn's vital signs.  
  
Taelyn started talking to get her attention.  
  
"How long do I have to stay here?"  
  
"You hit your head fairly hard when you fell and you've been unconscious for two days. You should be able to return to your home in a few days."  
  
"Yeah, well I need to go home to feed my cat."  
  
"The earliest you could get released would have to be later in the afternoon."  
  
"Fine." She replied, hoping that Leilani wasn't starving or worse. The afternoon passed slowly and Taelyn had familiarised herself with every detail of the room. Finally the nurse returned with clean clothes, the clothes Taelyn was wearing when she was admitted, only washed. The monitors were disconnected and Taelyn went into the bathroom to get changed. Once again in her Pizza Hut clothes, she headed out into the corridor and to the elevator, the nurse following on behind. Once downstairs in the lobby, Taelyn was allowed to go and she started the long walk home.

* * *

Taelyn entered her apartment and started calling out to Leilani. Searching through the unit, she found her cat collapsed on the kitchen floor next to both her empty food and water bowls.  
  
Fear pumping through her, Taelyn refilled the bowls as fast as she could before crouching down next to her cat. She dipped her finger in the water before holding it out to her cats' mouth.  
  
Moments later, Leilani slowly started to lick the water off of her finger. Taelyn coaxed her to the water and she started to lap up the water greedily. Relieved, Taelyn sat back on her heels and let out a sigh before rising and heading to her bed where she promptly collapsed. Not long after, she fell into a light sleep.

* * *

Taelyn stood behind nine menacing figures in billowing black capes who were advancing on four frightened hobbits. Where Aragorn was, she had no idea. She jumped when they drew their swords and held them upright in front of them. Sam, Merry and Pippin huddled protectively around Frodo and wouldn't budge. Taelyn looked around for something to attack with and saw a large stick to her right. She knew her attack was futile but she needed to do something. Pippin spotted Taelyn behind the figures and yelled out to her.  
  
"Taelyn!"  
  
She rolled her eyes and cursed him as he had alerted them to her presence.  
  
"Damn" she muttered under her breath.  
  
Hoping to distract the intimidating beings so that the hobbits could run, Taelyn charged forward swinging her stick wildly. She vaguely aimed for the closest one and hit it forcefully in the chest. Most of them turned to see who the new victim was. Still throwing the stick around madly, she stumbled backwards away from the approaching figures. In the background, Taelyn heard Frodo scream out in pain and, through a break in the monotonous line of black cloaks, she saw him lying on the ground with the ever-faithful Sam at his side. Unknown to Taelyn, she was being forced backwards towards the edge of the tower. With her sight firmly set on Frodo and Sam, she tripped over a slight step and fell down to land painfully on a ledge below.

* * *

**A/N**-Sorry for the short chapter, but it sounded right to leave it there.


	3. Chapter 3

**Alatril Carnesr**- thanks for the review! Most stories where someone goes to middle earth, they just stay there so I tried something different.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything! Not now, not ever!…….Well except for Taelyn and the plot of course. Oh, and the cat.

**Chapter Three**

A light shake on the shoulders woke Taelyn from her slumber, though when awake, she wished she were still unconscious. Painfully opening her eyes, she focused on the person above her…Aragorn. Suddenly, everything from the previous night came back to her. Frantically, she started trying to get up to see frodo.

Aragorn held her down by the shoulders to get her attention.

"Are you hurt?"

Mentally going through all the places of her body, Taelyn realised that only her head hurt.

"Just my head, Where's Frodo? Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine as long as we can reach Rivendell soon to see Lord Elrond."

A confused look passed across her face. "You mean I'm coming with you?"

"Even though we don't know you, we can't just leave you here defenseless" This comment came from Pippin who was seated to her right.

"I'm not defenseless!" she objected. "Just inexperienced with wielding a huge stick against nine huge things with sharp swords!"

"Ring Wraiths" commented Aragorn

"Huh?

"They were ring wraiths."

"Which are?"

"Don't worry. We need to make haste to Rivendell."

Aragorn stood and walked away out of her line of vision. Pippin also stood and held out a hand to her. He helped her up, although it was difficult, him being shorter than she was.

Taelyn looked around at her surroundings and realised that they were still upon the large tower, though sunlight now shone down upon them. Although she didn't know many things about the company, she knew that they had somewhere to go…. Quickly.

Aragorn was leaning over a very pale Frodo in the little shade there was. Pippin stood beside her and the others sat fidgeting and once in a while glancing at frodo.

"Okay everyone, lets get going to Riverbell!"

"Rivendell"

"Whatever"

She dragged Merry and Sam to their feet as Aragorn easily shouldered Frodo. In single file, they all walked down the narrow path to the ground. They traveled along the east-west road until they crossed the last bridge as the sun began to set. The trees gradually grew larger as they continued onwards until they could no longer clearly see the path ahead of them. That was when Aragorn called for a stop.

Taelyn sat looking over the clammy frodo while Sam and Aragorn melted off into the trees. Merry and pippin sat a little way away, discussing something or other in hushed voices. Putting a hand to his forehead, she felt that frodo had a severe fever. Using a nearby water bottle, she ripped off the end of her sleeve and laid it on his crown. It was then that she noticed what she was wearing. Back in her world, as she was sure she wasn't there anymore; she had been wearing her pizza hut work clothes. Now, she wore tight olive green pants and weird looking, (though comfortable) brown boots. Along with that, she wore an unusual green type of Jacket and underneath in was a khaki Singlet.

"What is this, the army?" she thought to herself.

Once again looking to frodo, she dabbed the damp cloth over the rest of his face. A few minutes later, Aragorn and Sam returned, Sam to sit with the others and Aragorn to kneel next to Taelyn and frodo. Lifting an unusual looking plant to his mouth, he sucked on it for a second before putting it to frodo's wound.

"What's that?" Taelyn asked, curious.

"Athelas"

"I wish you people would explain things better because I have no idea what a ring wraith or Athelas is."

Ring wraiths are evil and Athelas is a plant."

Standing, she walked off muttering, "I figured that."

Taelyn was pacing backwards and forwards, scuffing her feet when a bright presence seemed to appear before her. Looking up, she saw a white horse, and a beautiful maiden upon it. Confused, she glanced to the rest of the company who were all looking at her. Aragorn walked over to her and they had a conversation in some language that she didn't understand.

"She's and elf" Sam stated, enlightening Taelyn.

After they finished talking, Aragorn lifted Frodo up onto the mare and the lady sat behind him. They then turned around to head away.

"What are you doing? Those riders are still out there!"

Aragorn just turned away from the departing rider to talk to the remaining company.

"We will rest here for the night. Tomorrow morning we shall head for Rivendell."

With that, everyone tried to get comfortable enough to go to sleep, laying in silence for hours until the light snores of the hobbits were heard throughout the area. Sleep was far away for Taelyn so she stood and made her way to the nearest, largest tree. From there she climbed up into its upmost branches and gazed at the stars, (those that were not covered by leaves) deep in thought.

For hours she sat there gazing into nothing as the sky gradually got lighter. Startling her out of her reverie, aragorn's voice below made her jump slightly and her balance wobbled on the flimsy branch.

"What?"

"I said, have you had any sleep?"

"No!"

"…. Can you come down here please?"

"Sure" she replied, slowly climbing down.

Once on flat ground, Taelyn gave Aragorn a look saying "Now what?"

"Go wake the others while I pack the bags"

"Oki Dokalie"

"What?"

"Don't worry"

She then wandered over to Sam, who was closest and leant down next to him. Reaching out, she tapped him lightly on the shoulder. No response. Poking him harder, she was surprised when he rolled over onto her hand. Trying not to hurt herself, Taelyn tugged on her arm. When he rolled off of her hand, she went flying backwards into the dirt.

"Great" she muttered.

Leaning next to his ear, she said "Wake up!"

When he still didn't move, she repeated, louder, "Wake up!"

Sam remained asleep, though her shout had successfully woken up the other two hobbits. Merry came over with a bottle of water and trickled some lightly down Sam's face. The next instant, all five companions were awake and eager to get to rivendell and frodo.

Aragorn handed out a bag to each of them, and Taelyn was pleased to note that hers seemed the same weight as the others. She didn't want to become more of a burden than she already was. For most of the morning, Aragorn pushed them at a swift pace, aware that there were still wraiths out there. Pleased with herself, Taelyn was glad she was reasonably fit so that she could keep up. Every now and then, one of the guys would glance behind them to check up on her and make sure she hadn't disappeared. Eventually, Taelyn became sick of it.

"Look guys, I may be female, but I am not incompetent and I can keep up with you!"

Aragorn stopped and turned to answer,

"It's not that we find you unable to keep up, it's that we barely know you and we don't know what you are capable of. For all we know, you may be a witch, or an assassin sent to kill us. It doesn't help that you disappeared once I had tended to your wound."

Taelyn stood there speechless for a minute before replying.

"Sorry for disappearing, but I think I am a cosmic stuff up at the moment. Also, I am more capable of flying to mars than killing any of you."

"What's Mars?" asked Pippin.

"At night, when you look up at the stars, one of the little dots might be slightly redder than the rest. That's mars."

"Why would you want to fly to a dot?"

"Pippin, leave Taelyn alone" Aragorn said and walked off. The rest of the company followed behind.

Hours later, they arrived at rivendell. Taelyn, having been rather quiet all afternoon, stared at her feet constantly, and so missed seeing rivendell at a glance. She only started paying attention when Aragorn said her name. Looking up, she realised that she stood in a large foyer like room with four tall dark haired beings looking down at her. The elf on the left, (for she saw that they all had pointy ears) seemed noble and the eldest of the four.

"This is lord Elrond" Aragorn said. The elf in question nodded his head gravely.

"Next to him are his two sons, Elladan and Elrohir."

They must be twins she thought, as they looked exactly alike.

"Indeed" the man on the left of the two said. Taelyn gave him a puzzled look before turning to the last person. She recognised the lady from the woods and rushed towards her. As the lady started to speak, Taelyn came to a standstill.

"I am arwen, and frodo is resting down the hall, though he can't be disturbed yet."

Taelyn let out a breath she hadn't realised that she had been holding. The two women looked at the others in the room. Merry, Pippin and Sam were huddled in a corner talking about, it looked, Frodo. Aragorn and Elrond were talking together and Elladan and Elrohir were looking at her suspiciously. Feeling nervous under their scrutiny, Taelyn turned back to arwen. As if sensing her displeasure, Arwen led her down the hall in the direction of what she said was frodo's room.

"This is frodo's room" she said pointing to a door on the left, then kept walking. Taelyn desperately wanted to open that door and enter the room, but arwen was leaving and she decided that she would rather stay with the maiden who knew these halls than wander off on her own, so she lengthened her own stride to catch up with Arwen. They stopped infront of a door and Arwen led her inside.

"This shall be your room. I hope you find it to your liking."

Taelyn gazed around adoringly at the large, spacious room that she was in.

"Very much so. Thankyou." She said turning back to the she-elf.

"I suggest that you get some rest." Then she left, closing the door behind her. Tired, Taelyn collapsed on the bed and was asleep in minutes.


End file.
